Shoe-holder for factory-racks.



PATENTED OCT. 31, 1905.

W. B. ARNOLD. SHOE HOLDER FOR FACTORY RACKS.

APPLICATION FILED APE.17. 1903.

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connection with the accompanying facture, being normally 0 nnrrnn STATESPATENT OFFICE.

SHOE-HOLDER FOR FACTORY-RACKS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 31, 1905.

Application filed April 1'7, 1903. Serial No- 153,060.

To all whom, it Wury concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. ARNOLD, of North Abington, county ofPlymouth,

State of Massachusetts, have invented an Im-' provement in Shoe-Holdersfor Factory- Racks, of which the following description, in

drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representinglike parts.

The modern competition in excellence and cost in shoe manufacture makesit not only important, but vital, to reduce to a minimum the waste andbreakage in the shoemaking devices and injury to the shoes as they arebeing made.

My present invention has for its object the facilitating of this end andproviding means for expeditiously handling the shoe while being made,preventing one shoe from injuring another, maintaining the shoeuninjured by cement, promoting economy in the use of lasts, andminimizing the breakage and loss thereof, avoiding the loss of time nowcommon in searching for duplicate lasts, saving time in edge-trimming,and encouraging the use of lasts for treeing and subsequent operations.

I provide for each shoe a protector, which accompanies a shoe throughits entire manuproper size for receiving the shoe in loose positionuntil it is ready for the welting-machine. From this point the operatorwants the shoe maintained bottom up, and accordingly the protector hasmeans therefor, and instead of simply resting the cemented shoes againsteach other on a rack, as is now common, my protector is provided withmeans for preventing one shoe-sole from tipping against its neighbor andgetting cement on the side of the vamp.

A shoe can be leveled on such machines as the giant leveler without thelast much faster than on those machines which make use of the last, andaccordingly I provide the protector with means for receiving the lastand preventing the same from getting lost, thereby promoting the processof leveling without the last. This results in a great saving of lasts,time, and expense.

The protector carries the shoe bottom up in one compartment and theremoved last in another compartment to the heeling-machine'and throughthe trimming and other steps of manufacture which take place while theshoe is off from the last, and before the edge-setting operation thelast is taken from its place in the protector and is put back in theshoe, where it remains until the shoe is finished, if desired. Thisenables the operator to edge-trim the shoe without the weight of thelast therein, the result being that he can do a much better and quickerjob.

The structural details of my invention and further advantages thereofwill be pointed out in the course of the following description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which I have shownone of many embodiments thereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a preferredembodiment of my invention. Figs. 2 to 4 are end views thereof, showingits manner of use. Fig. 5 shows in side elevation the customary mannerof handling shoes at present.

The importance of my invention will be appreciated if it is understoodthat for proper manufacture of shoes it is essential that the same lastshall be used with the same shoe substantially throughout itsmanufacture, as no two lasts are exactly the same, and inasmuch asthousands of shoes in a factory pass from workman to workman rapidly andendlessly much loss is experienced by inadvertent change or loss orlast, with the result that ordinarily workmen are loath to remove thelast from the shoe whenever it is possible to get along without doingso.

One object of my invention is to provide means which will facilitate thehandling of the shoe, either within or without the last, without dangerof loss or mixing the lasts and without liability of injuring the shoe.

Referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the protector or housing whichI have provided to go with each shoe consists of a box A, having an openend a, a closed end a, and suitable sides a a and bottom a. A separatora preferably higher than the sides of the box, is hinged therein at onecorner, as indicated at a, by a leaf-spring s and adapted to lie overagainst the op osite side when desired, as indicated in otted lines M.The side of the box and the opposite sides of the separator (i arereferably covered with soft material a suc as canton-flannel or othersubstance, which will prevent abrasion of the leather or dimming of theenamel of fine shoes. The protector is provided with ventilating-holesa" a for facilitating the drying of the cement at that stage in the shoemanufacture, and the separator is preferably held in normal uprightposition by springs at the hinged lower edge thereof. One of theseprotectors is provided at the beginning for each shoe and goes with itevery step of its manufacture until the shoe is completed.

In use the protector normally occupies the position shown in Fig. 2, sothat the shoe as it is being made is simply thrown into the box andreadily removed therefrom until it goes to the welting-machine, and thenthe welt having been applied the shoe is placed in the protector withits cemented bottom part uppermost, as indicated in Fig. 3, this beingdone by the workman quickly simply by striking the toe of the shoesidewise against the projecting upper portion of the separator a andthereby swinging the latter over into the position shown in Fig. 3,whereupon the shoe is dropped against the soft sides of thetriangular-shaped opening thus formed therefor. As heretofore practicedthe shoes were simply rested against each other on a rack, as shown inFig. 5, the result being that more or less of the cement from one shoewould daub itself onto the next shoe and the shoes would be roughlyhandled and would otherwise receive many in juries which my inventionprevents. When a shoe reaches the leveling operation, the last isremoved therefrom and placed in a lower triangular compartment 0 whilethe shoe is being leveled Without the last. This provision of means forreceiving the last and keeping it in the same protector or housing withwhich the shoe itself must necessarily go makes it feasible for theoperator to perform the leveling, heeling, and trimming and variousoperations without the last, there being no danger of the last gettinglost or mixed with other lasts. Before edge-setting the shoe the last istaken from the receptacle 0 and put back in the shoe, and thereafter theshoe and last are together carried in the compartment 0.

It will be understood that the protectors are set side by side on a rackin the same way that shoes have been heretofore placed thereon.

One of the most serious problems which I have tried for several yearspast as a shoe manufacturer to solve, repeatedly in vain, has been thedevising of means for preventing the loss of lasts and quickening theprogress of the shoe through the factory. It is impossible to rely uponthe workmen for these results, as there are so many different workmenand the shoes remain with each one such a short time and must be handledwith great rapidity and necessarily with more or less carelessness. Thepresent invention, however, has finally solved the problem. It does notdepend in any way upon the care or discretion of the workmen, butinsures that the shoe will not only be properly protected, but that theshoe and the last will invariably 0 through the factory properly, and itena les and encourages the workman to do all that he can properlywithout the last in the shoe, especially the leveling and edge-trimmingthereof.

Havmg described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire 'to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. A shoe-holder for factory-racks, comprising a receptacleapproximately the size of a shoe for loosely receiving the same, saidreceptacle having an open top and end, and a separator adapted to extenddiagonally from one side at the bottom to the other side at the top ofsaid receptacle, and means normally maintaining said separator invertical position at one side of the receptacle.

2. A shoe-holder for factory-racks, comprising a receptacleapproximately the size of a shoe for loosely receiving the same, saidreceptacle having an open top and end, and a separator adapted to extenddiagonally from one side at the bottom to the other side at the top ofsaid receptacle, the inside of said receptacle and both sides of saidseparator being covered with soft, smooth, material.

3. The herein-described means for holding a partly-finished shoe duringthe manufacture thereof, comprising a box having the same length andheight as the shoe, and bein slightly wider than the shoe, and a movab%eseparator adapted to extend from one of the lower longitudinal cornersof the box diagonally up to the top of the other side for receiving onits upper side a shoe, bottom up,

said separator forming the bottom of a rece tacle narrow at the bottomfor propery holding the ankle part of the shoe-top and sufficiently wideat the top to permit the shoe to rest within the receptacle against thesides thereof, said box having an open front end and top.

4. The herein-described means for holding a partly-finished shoe duringthe manufacture thereof, comprising a box having the same len th andheight as the shoe, and being slight y wider than the shoe, a separatorhinged in one of the lower longitudinal corners, and capable of swingingvertically against'the adjacent side of the box and obliquely againstthe opposite side thereof, said se arator, when standing verticallybeing hig er than the adjacent side of the box to permit of being swungdownwardly by lateral engagement of the shoe with its projecting edge asthe shoe is being placedbottorn up a ainst said separator.

5. The erein-described means for holding a partly-finished shoe duringthe manufacture thereof, comprising a box having the same len th andheight as the shoe, and being slight y wider than the shoe, a separatorhaving its lower edge resting in one of the lower longitudinal cornersand its upper edge resting a ainst the opposite side adjacent the top, tereby formin the bottom of a triangular receptacle for a s oe bottom up,and forming the top of a triangular compartment for the shoe-last, saidcompartment being open at its end for the handling of said last and saidbox being open at its top for the handling of the shoe.

6. The herein-described means for holding a partly-finished shoe duringthe manufac ture thereof, comprising a box having the same length andheight as the shoe, and bein slightly wider than the shoe, a springhe ldseparator normally extending in vertical position against onelongitudinal side of the box and adapted to be swung over against theopposite side thereof.

7. The herein-described shoe-protector for WILLIAM B. ARNOLD.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. MAXWELL, S. WILLIAM LUTTON.

